Monday, November 30, 2015

This is an authentic Andhra recipe of dal cooked with raw mango. Pappu is a thicker version of dal and is cooked either plain or with the addition of vegetables, greens or raw mango. It can be relished with plain rice and ghee along with some other side dish and fried papads.

Method:
1. Clean the mango and wipe it with a cloth. Peel it and cut into small pieces or grate it.
2. Soak toor dal for 3-4 hours.
3. Pressure cook dal with mango, turmeric powder, little salt and green chillies adding 2 or 2 and 1/2 cups of water.
4. In a pan heat the oil and add the tempering ingredients. When they crackle add the crushed garlic and simmer until it becomes light brown and crispy.
Mix the tempering and dal together. Save little for garnishing before you serve.

Note: the quantity of green chillies and raw mango can be according to your liking.

Method:
1. Soak dal for 2-3 hours.
2. Dry roast the cumin and coriander seeds. Add the red chillies and roast a little.
3. Now add the grated coconut and saute for a minute.
4. Grind these adding tamarind juice and a little water. Set aside.
5. In a pressure cooker or a pan add 1 tbsp oil and saute the onion.
6. Add the spinach and dal. Cook it adding salt and sufficient water. If using a pressure cooker you will need less water.
7. Now in a small pan heat the remaining oil and fry the crushed garlic until light brown in colour.
8. Add the ground masala paste and simmer for a minute stirring it.
9. Mix the masala in the cooked dal.

Saturday, November 28, 2015

Punugulu or punukulu is a street food from Andhra Pradesh . Small bite size fritters usually made from the left over idli / dosa batter. They can also be made from plain urad or moong dal batter. There is no particular recipe that you have to follow for this. These can be made plain or with the addition of anything you prefer like finely chopped onion, ginger, garlic, green chillies, coriander leaves, crushed cumin seeds, asafoetida. etc etc.. choice is yours.. I have made them with moong dal and rice batter and served with spicy coconut chilli chutney.

To make perfect and crispy punugulu make sure the batter is not too thin. If you are using left over batter and need to thicken it just add a spoonful of rice flour / urad dal powder or ground poha. If the batter is thin they tend to soak oil and if it is too thick they become hard.

Method:
1. Soak the rice and dal separately for 4-5 hours.
2. Grind to a smooth batter adding little water. Mix both the batters together. Let it ferment for 5-6 hours. But if you are using only urad dal or moong dal you need not ferment. It can be fried right away like vadas.
3. When you are ready to fry add the salt, asafoetida, baking powder and crushed cumin seeds. ( and anything else you want to add)
4. Mix the batter well using your hand or a spoon for few minutes. This will make it light and fluffy.
5. meanwhile keep the oil for heating.
6. Drop small quantity of flour to make the fritters.
Serve hot with any chutney you like.

Method:
1. Soak azuki beans for few hours or overnight.
2. Boil them adding a little salt. Drain and set aside. You can use the water for soups or kneading the roti dough.
3. In a pan heat oil and add the tempering ingredients.. Mustard seeds, cumin seeds, broken red chillies and curry leaves.
4. When they crackle, add the lightly crushed garlic pieces and fry them until light brown.
5. Now tip in the sliced onion and saute until golden brown.
6. Now add the coarsely chopped palak leaves and stir fry.
7. Add the green chillies, salt, spice powders mentioned and the tamarind juice.
7. Stir in the boiled azuki and mix carefully.

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Kanji vada is a very popular snack of North India, specially a delicacy of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, Moong dal vadas are soaked in mustard flavoured kanji which is made in advance so that the flavours of mustard are released into the liquid. It is mostly made during winters because mustard produces heat in the body. You can serve them chilled or at room temperature.

Method:
1. Grind coarsely all the ingredients for kanji . Mix them in about 3 cups of boiled and cooled water.
2. Refrigerate it for one or two days so that the flavours are released well.
3. Grind the soaked moong dal adding chilli ginger paste and fennel seeds. Use very little water while grinding.
4. Remove it in a bowl and add the asafoetida and salt. Mix well with your hand to make it light and fluffy.
5. Heat oil in a pan. Take a lemon sized portion of the batter and flatten it with wet hand.
6. Drop the vadas in hot oil and fry them to light brown colour.
7. Soak the fried vadas for 1 hour in a bowl of water.
8. Remove the vadas one by one squeezing out the water carefully between your palms.
9. Drop them into the kanji and let them soak again for one hour.

Serve them chilled or at room temperature. You can serve a little kanji in a cup and sip it in between.

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Here is a simple and delicious quick-fix lunch recipe with some left-over rice. You can make it with any podi you have. MTR podi is our family favourite as it is mild. I always bring few packets each time I visit India. Usually we mix it with plain rice and ghee but for a change I made it with tempering and it turned out so delicious.

Monday, November 23, 2015

Barmbrack is a bread made with dried fruit that has been soaked in hot tea. It is traditionally served at Halloween in Ireland, but also makes for an excellent tea time treat, especially when tasted and generously slathered with butter! The Irish also call it Báirín Breac or “Speckled Bread”. Speckled because of the rains in the bread and that name comes from the Irish words “báirín” for loaf and “breac” for speckled.
The origin of Halloween goes back to the Celtic festival of "Samhain" which is derived from Old Irish and supposedly roughly translates to "Summer's End." The Barmbrack is very much a part of a traditional Irish Halloween custom that involved baking various objects or “fortunes” into the fruit bread. When the bread was cut and served, if you found one of the objects in your portion then that would tell your fortune.
There are yeasted versions of this recipe as well those that use baking powder to leaven it. I am making the yeasted version. The portions given here make 2 loaves. If you want to make one then reduce the quantity by half.

1/2 to 3/4 cup warm milk for 1 cup of "milk + tea" mixture* (see below in the method)
1 tbsp caster Sugar or honey + 1 tbsp boiling water mixed to glaze the top of the bread (optional)

Method:

Put the dried fruits in a bowl. Cover them with hot black tea and leave them for few hours or preferably overnight.

Drain the liquid and reserve it for using later. Set the fruit aside.

Collect all the ingredients at room temperature.

Take 1/4 cup warm water and add sugar. Sprinkle yeast and allow it to become frothy by leaving it in a warm place.

Take the flour in a large mixing bowl and add the spice powders, salt, sugar and butter. (I skipped egg.)
Knead this by adding the yeast and the milk and the strained tea set aside earlier. (add as much as needed little by little )

Take the dough on a floured surface and knead it well for 2 minutes.

Flatten the dough with your palm or a rolling pin.

Dust the soaked and drained fruits with a spoonful of flour. This helps in kneading as the moisture is absorbed by the dry flour.

Spread them on the flattened dough.

Fold it into two and spread the remaining fruits. Also add any trinkets if you like at this stage.

Fold it again and shape it into a nice round ball.

Place it in a greased bowl. Cover and let it rest in a warm place

Remove it from the bowl when it doubles in size ( about 1 and 1/2 to 2 hrs )

Gently remove the risen dough and knead it lightly to remove air bubbles.

Put it in a greased loaf tin or a round tin and allow it to rise again. ( about 1 hour )

It has risen to double now and ready to go into the oven.

Bake it at 180 C (350 F) for about 35 to 45 minutes or until golden brown on top. The time and temperature may vary a little according to the type and size of oven used. Check it out. Cover the bread with a foil if it is browning faster.

About 5 minutes before finally taking the breads out of the oven, brush the tops of them with the sugar glaze (if using) and return to the oven for 3 to 4 minutes for a sticky and shiny finish.

Puri is a very popular deep fried Indian flat bread mostly taken for breakfast. It can be made plain or with many variations. Spinach is loaded with nutrients and I like adding it to most of my dishes. I have sauteed the spinach lightly and added to the puri dough. You may just use whole wheat flour or mix some maida or any other flour. These delicious puris can be had without any accompaniment too.. just with curd and pickle or even munch them with masala chai.

Method:
1. In a pan heat one tbsp. oil and add garlic paste.
2. Saute and add the chopped spinach, kasoori methi and green chillies.
3. Add salt to taste and crushed cumin seeds. Stir for a minute.
4. In a bowl take the flour and add the prepared spinach.
5. Check the salt and add a little if needed.
6. Mix it well and knead the dough adding little water or curd.
7. Roll out small puris and deep fry them.

Sunday, November 22, 2015

Potato sheera is made usually on fasting days. It is very easy to make and really very delicious.

Ingredients:
Potatoes ... 2 large
Sugar ...... 1/2 cup (adjust as per your preference)
Green cardamoms ... 3-4
Saffron .. as needed
Ghee .... 2 tbsps
Pistachios / almonds .. few for garnishing.Method:
1. Boil the potatoes. Peel and cut them into small pieces.
2. Heat ghee in a pan and add the lightly crushed cardamoms.
3. When they give out aroma, add the potatoes and saute for few minutes.
4. Add a pinch of saffron and sugar.
5. Keep stirring until the sugar is absorbed and the sheera starts to leave the sides.
Garnish with saffron strands and chopped nuts.

Friday, November 20, 2015

This month we had Halloween and Thank giving. So in our monthly baking group we baked spiced pumpkin bread rolls. These Rolls are not just shaped to resemble pumpkins and are also made with pumpkin in them. They’re quite soft with a hint of sweetness and are great to snack on or serve as a side with soup.
If you would like sweeter rolls, replace the 2 tbsp of honey with 1/8 to 1/4 cup of sugar depending on how sweet you want them. If you don’t use eggs just leave the egg in the recipe out. You can use canned pumpkin purée if you find that easier but I’d pick freshly made purée anytime for flavour and taste. You can also leave out the spices if you don’t want them in your rolls but the spiced ones taste really good. I served them with pumpkin soup.

Take warm water or milk . Add honey or sugar. Sprinkle the yeast on top and allow it to ferment until frothy.

Take the flour in a large bowl and mix all the spice powders, egg, salt and sugar.

Add the fermented yeast and pumpkin puree little by little and knead the dough. It will be a bit sticky. You can use the electric machine of you have one.

Remove the dough on a floured surface and start kneading well for 2 minutes. You can sprinkle a little flour while kneading.

Knead it well until you get a smooth texture.

Place it in a greased bowl. Cover it and leave it in a warm place to rise until double.

Remove the risen dough and deflate it to remove air pockets. Knead lightly.

Divide it into 8-10 equal portions.

Roll each portion into a ball and flatten it a little. Using a pair of scissors or a knife make 8 cuts at equal distance from each other from the edge of the ball toward the center leaving the center uncut like a flower as shown in the image.

Place them 2" apart from each other in a baking tray lined with butter paper and allow them to rise until double. (about 1 hour) It takes more time in winter.

Using a chopstick, pierce the center of the rolls to insert the stems. Oil the tip of the chopstick to avoid from sticking.
Brush the tops with egg white or milk.

Bake at 180 C ( 350 F) for 20 - 22 minutes or until done. The time and temperature may vary a bit according to the size and type of oven.

Take them out of the oven and brush them with melted butter or ghee or honey diluted with a little water to give a shine. I used melted butter. Insert the stems (whatever you have chosen for them)
I tried out sliced dates as they are edible. But the spinach stems looked better in the pictures.